The present disclosure relates generally to food technologies. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to microwaveable packages including a composite susceptor having a standard susceptor layer and a microwave shielding layer that is at least substantially metal free.
The microwave oven has become an increasing popular means for cooking food due to consumer convenience, energy efficiency and reduction of power consumption during food preparation. While microwave cooking provides volumetric heating of a food product that is typically slightly hotter on an outside of the food product, microwave cooking typically does not provide desired surface heating to achieve a browned, crisp surface of the food product. Indeed, microwave cooking is unable to provide a food product having a browned, crisp surface because the surface of the food product generally does not get significantly hotter than the center of the food product. In contrast, conventional ovens often provide such foods with a surface that is browned, crisp and desirable to consumers. Nevertheless, conventional ovens also require a significantly increased amount of preparation time since food products heated by conventional ovens are heated relatively slowly from the outside inward.
Microwave susceptor materials are known in the food industry and have been used as active packaging systems with microwaveable foods since the late 1970's. Susceptors are used to provide additional thermal heating on the surface of food products that are heated in a microwave oven, which helps to achieve a browned, crisp surface that is desirable to consumers. While the use of microwave susceptors can provide improved characteristics for microwave cooked foods, susceptors are not necessarily capable of imparting desired temperature profiles to all microwaveable foods.
For example, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/465,700 to Michael (“Michael”) discloses the challenges faced when preparing a frozen consumer-heatable pastry product with an ice cream filling. As discussed in Michael, the ice cream portion of the frozen consumer-heatable pastry products are typically exposed to temperatures during the manufacturing process and the consumer heating process that cause the ice cream to melt or otherwise degrade. To prevent such issues, the frozen products of Michael are formulated with a “cook-stable” ice cream that is more tolerant of heat exposure conditions than are typical such that the cook-stable ice cream does not melt-out or otherwise degrade during at least the pre-cooking operation. However, the cook-stable ice cream solution of Michael requires reformulation of the ice cream filling and limits the types of frozen compositions that may be included in frozen consumer-heatable pastry products without experiencing melting or other degradation.
As such, there exists no suitable manner in which to prepare a hot-and-cold food product in the microwave oven that includes any edible, frozen component and that also provides a temperature profile that is close to that from conventional oven preparation, while also providing a browned, crisp surface.